IAN AMOS KOMENSKI
Jan Amos Komensky was born 28th March 1592, probably in Nivnice near Gottwaldov in Moravia close to Slovakia now. His birthplace, on the other hand, has never been identified and there are several places claimed, Nivnice or Uhersk Brod and so on. At the age of 16 Comenius was sent to the Brethren‘s Latin School in Prerov. He finished school at 19 and could then go on to university. Comenius was at school in Prerov from 1608 till1611.
For all his life, Komensky remained a devoted Christian, and a member of the Unity of Czech Brethren, by which he was baptized and raised. This religious society was based on a rather strict teaching of a 15th century Czech yeoman, Petr Chelcicky, and one century later strongly influenced by the German reformer Martin Luther. After university studies in Herbron and Heidelberg in Germany, Comenius was ordained as a Czech Brethren priest in 1616. He married and had two children, but his happiness did not last long - his wife and both children died of plague in 1622. And it was a time of big changes throughout Europe: The political and social and economical changes initiated during the Renaissance and Reformation became established in the 17th century. So the time was very difficult. The political event of this epoque was the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648. it was in fact not one but several wars which all concluded with the peace treaty and peace of Westphalia in 1648.
But there were crucial changes on the political scene in the Czech Kingdom as well: after the defeat of the Protestant nobility at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague in 1620, the Catholic grip tightened, and the Czech nation, hitherto allowed to profess both beliefs, was subject to strict re- catholization ordered from Vienna. A wave of involuntary migration started: The Thirty Years War resulted not only in the new political alignments but also in massive democratic changes. Flights and emigrations were permanent features over the 17th century and Bohemia and Moravia were particularly badly affected. In 1627 all Protestants were forced to chose between becoming Catholics ore being expelled from their country.
Komensky could not betray his Protestant belief. He went into hiding and stayed with some of his friends in Bohemia, but finally he decided to flee: It was that in the year 1628 Comenius was told to accompany a small group of the Brethren to Leszno, Poland. Comenius spent total 16 years in Leszno which were some of the hardest years of his life. Then 1625 fire swept throughLeszno. Many of Comenius writings were destroyed including his dictionary of the Czech language which he had been working on for over 40 years.
